Fuel costs prompts hike in assessment

Atlas Twp.-The township board of trustees voted 6-0 to OK a special assessment for $114 for improved lots for a total of $254,676. Garbage collection and recycling from all occupied properties in the township. Residents are currently paying $107 annual for the service.
Township Supervisor Shirley Kautman-Jones was absent.
‘We are still in the same contract with Emterra’that has not changed,? said Kautman-Jones, on Wednesday. ‘We are adjusting the amount the township collects through special assessment due to an increase in fuel prices. That’s a big factor in the collection.?
The township refuse contract was acquired in November 2012 by Burlington, Ontario based Emterra Environmental USA, after purchasing contracts from bankrupt Richfield Landfill, Inc. According to news sources, Halton Recycling of Ontario agreed to pay $5 million for several pieces of property that were owned by Richfield, as well as a dozen waste hauling contracts, which included the township in the Genesee County area.
The hike of about $7 per year will be included on the assessment.
The contract will expire on December 31, 2015.